Active shooter response training

Active shooter drill took place in North Court.

Members of University Police, along with officers from the City of Richmond and VCU, participated in a training exercise in August to simulate a response to an active shooter on campus. Faculty and staff played the roles of students, staff and professors during a series of scenarios staged in North Court. The city’s SWAT team participated in the final scenario—a simulated hostage situation. UR Lt. Adrienne Meador Murray, who served as coordinator of the exercise, said the department had planned the drill before the April shootings at Virginia Tech, “but clearly the need to have the scenario-based instruction was crucial to reinforce what policy we had in place.”  Active shooter training began at the University in 1999 in response to the shooting at Columbine High School. “Patrol officers and first responders have to be re-trained to deal with these new threats,” she said.